Some businesses excluded from bill

The tax breaks are designed to lure jobs back to the region.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- House Republicans decided Tuesday to stop casinos, massage parlors and liquor stores from cashing in on tax breaks for businesses in Gulf Coast communities ravaged by hurricanes.
Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., led the movement to carve those businesses out of any special tax incentives intended to lure jobs and commerce back to the region.
"Federal tax dollars need to be focused on those who truly need the government's help, like the poor, vulnerable and elderly," Wolf said in a statement on the House floor.
Acting Majority Leader Roy Blunt, R-Mo., told reporters that he thinks it's appropriate to deny special tax breaks to those industries. "That's my personal view of that," he said.
Lawmakers got to work on a package of business tax breaks after President Bush, speaking from New Orleans in September, proposed a Gulf Opportunity Zone to rebuild the regional economy. He proposed investment incentives, loans for small businesses and other rewards.
Banned from benefits
A House bill, scheduled for debate today, fulfills the order for a special investment zone. It prohibits country clubs, casinos, hot tub facilities, liquor stores, massage parlors, private or commercial golf courses, racetracks and tanning parlors from using tax incentives special to the Gulf Coast.
Blunt said he wants to see the bill enacted before the end of the year so that businesses, whether returning or new enterprises, know the tax consequences of their decisions. The Senate already passed a bill with $7 billion in such incentives that does not exclude casinos or other businesses from its provisions. It's one portion of a nearly $58 billion tax bill.
Wolf said tax breaks for those recreational industries were particularly inappropriate at a time when Republicans want to trim federal programs to curb budget deficits and offset the costs of reconstructing hurricane-damaged communities.
The bill targets assistance to businesses in the region hit by Hurricane Katrina and individuals effected by Hurricanes Rita and Wilma:
It provides an emergency allocation of low-income housing tax credits and increases tax credits for restoring commercial buildings.
It permits businesses to claim an additional depreciation deduction worth 50 percent of new property investments made in the designated zone, including computer software, commercial and residential real estate expenditures and equipment.
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